By Herman Lai, posted Feb 20, 2012 at 3:44 PM, 1,630 views,

Xiaomi CEO Thinks He Can Change The World Like Steve Jobs Did (Video)

As we all know, Lei Jun (the founder of Xiaomi Tech) is a big fans of Apple, and he has an ambition to build up his company like Apple. Of course, Steve Jobs inspired him VERY MUCH. He recently told the media, ‘I hope that one day I can change something about the world like Steve Jobs [did].‘. As far as now, Xiaomi M1 is a very popular smartphone in China which nearly passed iPhone to become the best selling phone in China. We will see what Lei Jun could do in the next few years.

CDMA-based Xiaomi Phone’s Sweepstakes

Xiaomi hosted a sweepstakes last week to introduce the CDMA Xiaomi phone. So what’s the prize? They called it the “commemorative edition” Xiaomi phone, and that’s exactly the pictures showed above — It is a CDMA Xiaomi phone that dressed up in orange color plus Lei Jun’s (Xiaomi’s CEO) signature on the back cover. What’s more? It is offered with a discount price tagged at 1,699 yuan ($269). The activity had attracted over 920,000 people to join, which is very surprising. Is it really that much? Among the 920,000 applicants, only 1,000 of them can get the prize. For those who missed out last week sweepstakes, the official release date for CDMA-based Xiaomi phone will be sometimes at the end of March, which will be offering at the same price as on Xiaomi’s official website — 1,999 yuan ($317).

Plenty of Xiaomi Phones Available

You can buy the machine through Xiaomi’s official website, China Unicom stores and Suning (China’s biggest consumer electronic retailer), however those three sales channels always ran out of stocks. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to wait. In fact, there are lots of Xiaomi phone available on many Chinese e-commerce platforms as well. With Zhongguancun (China’s Silicon Valley), there are dozens of retailers who are currently holding lots of stocks in their inventory, which selling each at around 2,400 – 2,550 yuan. Moreover, China’s most popular e-commerce platform Taobao, also has a retailer who sold out 1,167 units of Xiaomi M1 within 30 days. We suspect the repeated occurrence of “panic buying” on Xiaomi’s official site may be just a marketing strategy.

After Sales Services

What about Xiaomi’s after sales services? Xiaomi has lots of locations across China (Shanghai, Beijing…) that provided repair services for Xiaomi M1’s users, but we notice that doesn’t include Shenzhen. So how would Xiaomi manage for those who lived in places that don’t have after sales services provide? Allegedly, those customers will have to send their device back to Beijing (where Xiaomi’s headquarter is) for any repair and maintenance services. And that is complicated! It would be very crucial of how well Xiaomi can manage its “after sales services” this year, it will influence customers’ impression of the company.

Xiaomi Expects Losses For The Next Few Years

According to Xiaomi’s President Bin Lin:

“We are not looking to make any money, or to make Xiaomi profitable, for the next two or three years. We will be able to look at profitability from software and services after we have the user base.”

The company is pursuing a strategy of integrating its software with a high-performance handset, they will decide how to make money from its software and Internet services later, possibly involving advertising. Xiaomi is apparently drawing customers to its smartphones by offering a device with specifications comparable to products offered by Apple, Samsung and HTC at a fraction of the cost. Xiaomi’s phone with a dual-core 1.5 processor is priced at 1,999 yuan ($317) on its website, less than half the 4,988 yuan price for the iPhone 4S at Apple’s online store in China.

Wrap-up

It is too early to say whether Lei Jun can change the world while his company is still expanding. But it is for sure that Xiaomi is doing great as a startup company in China. As we previously mentioned, the company is currently having lots of competitors challenging its Xiaomi M1. We are looking forward to see how well could Xiaomi goes this year, can they expand out of China?

Source: Xinhua, Bloomberg, Xiaomi’s official website